Etsy is a magical website where people who have dedicated their time to the creation of fine art, and handmade crafts along with those who collect vintage objects. They come to etsy with great hopes of finding a venue where by they can create the objects that make our lives enjoyable. This blog is about the day to day happenings in the Etsy world.

Reservezoo

Thinking of travel.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Thedaystarted of with a
greatbreakfast. Itwasbuffetstyle,
and
of courseithad
a largeselection
of Chinese food.
Thehotels
in China
are cateringmoreandmore
to thewesternvisitorswhenitcomes
to thebreakfastmenu.
During my firstvisit
to China,
my breakfast
consisted of Conch, a watery rice porridge, fruit,
andeggsboiled
in tea.
Mosthotels
in China,
today,
provide
a goodselection
of fruit,
friedeggs,
toastand
of coursethepreferredbeverage
of westerntourists,
coffee.
Achefprepared
my friedeggs,
right
on thebuffetline.
Eggs fried over
hard is thewaytheyserved them.
I
think
they fried the eggs hard because
becausewewereeating
with chopsticks. I think the task of picking
up softfriedeggs,
would be a bitdifficult using the sticks. Finishing
our coffee,
andourfriendlybanter,
wegathered
our belongings, andclimbed
aboard our bus,
to take
us to TianamenSquareandthe
Forbidden city.
My two travellers thatarrivedearly
in Beijing, hadalreadyvisitedthissite,
sotheydecided
to go
with Wendy to theAntiqueMarket.
Asusualthetraffic in Beijing wasunusuallyheavy, sothebusdriverdropped
us on a corner,
near thesquare.
We
could seethat
a lot
of peoplemoving
towards thecrosswalk
that would take us on to thesquare,
sowemoved
with them. Thepoliceweretrying
to controlthestreetsandcrossings,
to ensurethepeopledid
not justwalkwheretheywanted.
Wewaitedpatiently, to crossthestreet. Somepeople would saywewere in line. This would be an understatement. Itwas a
mob.

China,
much
like therest
of theworld,
has instituted
a strongsecurity,
screening procedure.
Thecrowdsweregrowingbecause
everyone had
to go
through thesecuritycheckpoint.
TheNationalHolidaycelebrationsweregoing
to takeplacethenextday,
and
as such,
theauthoritiesclosedmost
of thecrosswalks.
Thisalsoattributed
to thelargecrowdwaiting
to crossthestreet.
Thecrowdwasgettingtired
of waiting,
andthepushingandshovingwasgainingmomentum.
There wasnomeans of control,
andoddly
there were
not thatmanypolice
around to helpmanagethepeople. There wasjust
a small, plasticportable,
accordion, fencekeepingthepeopleback.
Whenwearrived,
at thefront
of theline,
thecrowdhadbecome
a movingmass
that was
unstoppable. Peoplestarted to losecontrol. Thepushingandshovingbecamestronger. Permissionwasgivenfor us to
crossthestreet. Thecrowd
as a singleentity,
andpushedsohardthatthefencefellover,
andthemobsurgedforward.
I saw
two of my travellers getcaught
up in thesurgeforward.
As
I reached
to pull one of my group
out of themass,
I saw
my friend
Yukari getcaught
up in the
folding fence.
I fearedshe
would be trampled,
so
I reachedfarback
into therush of people,
andgrabbed
her arm,
just
in time
to pull
her out.
Itwas a hairraisingexperience.

Sculptures in front of the mauseleum of MaoPhoto by: Greg Tsontakis-Mally

Oncewecrossedtheroadwehad
to wait,
onceagain,
to go
through thesecuritypoint.
Onceclear,
werelaxed,
andour Beijing guidelead
us around thesquareexplainingsome
of theimportantpoints.
Once
on thesquare
I could see
a physicalpresence
of securitypersonalpreparingforthecelebrations
that would happenthenextday.
Beautifultemporarygardensandflowersdecoratedthesquare. ﻿

Moving with the crowds. A lot of people.Photo by: Greg Tsontakis-Mally

TheGroupmoved
towards theexit
of thesquare that would take us to thegates
of the
Forbidden City.
My foremostconcernwas to
keeping
my grouptogether.
It
would be easy
to getlost
amongst such
a crowd of people.
Thesecondmainconcernwaswhatwe
would do
should anyone need to go
to thetoilet.
My experience
from my previousvisit
to Chinataught
me to ensurethat
I would be quickly,
be able
to find
a place
to relievemyself.
I wassure
someone in my group would
needsuch
a facility.

﻿

These soldiers are those who do the flag raising ceremony. They are barracked in the Forbidden City CompoundPhoto by: Greg Tsontakis-Mally

﻿

Weweresoon
at themaingate
to enterthe
Forbidden City.
Thiscomplexwasbuilt
in order
to keeptheEmperorsafe
within its walls.
In reality, it is a city within a city. Alargeportrait
of Mao sits
above thefirstgate,
called
"TheTianamen, Gate
of theHeavenlyPeace."
If
one wanted
to experiencewhatit
would be like to be one of the
Chinese leaders,
one could purchase a ticket
to climbandlook
out over TianamenSquare.
One could imagine
reviewing thetroopsandwaving
to thousands of followers
that fillthesquare
on theNationalHoliday.,
Thesecurity will not
let
anyone close
to theedge
of thebalcony.
Neverthelessit is an enjoyableexperience. My
groupdid
not havethetimeforthisexperience,
but
I havedoneitandfoundit
worth thefee.

﻿

Inside the Forbidden City. This photograph gives an idea of size of the City.Photo by: Greg Tsontakis-Mally

﻿

﻿﻿

The lions of China. This lion is the male because he has the world under his paw.Photo by: Greg Tsontakis-Mally

﻿

﻿

Manybelievethatthis
is themainentrance
to theCity.
This is
not so. Wehad to pass through thisgate. Thentravel
along a large,
brickpaved,
squareandarrived
at themainentrance.
Just
to therightwe
could seethearmy
barracks wherethesoldierswhoperformtheceremonialflagraisingandloweringeventsliveandpractice.
Hawkers pliedtheareatrying
to sell
us souvenirsusedtherefusecontainers
as their stands.
Most
of them wereselling
illegally, andthey
would run as soon
as anyauthoritiescomearound.
Ifyoustop to purchase anything from theseguys,
you
can barter. Offer
one tenth of whatthey
are asking,
andyou
might be able
to gettheitemfor
around fifty percent of theoriginalprice.
Besureyouhavetherightchange
to use to by whatyouwishbecausethevendor
may have
to runquickly,
andiftheydo,
you
will be out your change.
Also,
whentheygiveyouanychangeit
is usuallyoldcrumpled
up bills,
theydothis
knowing thatit
will takeyou
a longtime
to count our your change.
By thetime,
youcompleted
your taskthehawker would be gone.
Thishappened to two of my gang. ﻿

There are Bronze object throughout the City.

Whenwearrived
at themainentrance,
calledtheMeridianGatewewaited
until theguidepurchased
our ticketsandpassed
through the
arched entrancetouchingthebrassdecorations
on thedoor.
Theysaythatitbringsgoodluck to dothis. Whenwecame
out of theshade
of thegate,
thelargesthall
in the
Forbidden Citygreeted
us. To get to his buildingwehad
to go
over a stonebridge
that calledthe
"Golden StreamBridge."
The Chinese of
timepast must havebeenpoets. Theyhavesuchbeautifulnamesfor
their historicalsites.
This
is thebuilding
is one of three that dottheoutercourtyard.
It
is theone
that is mostseen
by thepublic,
Itserves
as a scene in many
Chinese movies
with historicalthemes.
Thebuilding is called,
"TheHall
of Supreme Harmony,"
ThefamousDragonThrone.is
located
in thisbuilding.
Chinese, for "Dragon throne". There
werealso two
otherbuilding in thisarea. "TheHall of Central Harmonywas one." Our guideexplainedthatthisbuildingwaswheretheEmperor
would restprior
to reviewing his troopsandpresiding
over grandevents.
Itwasalsothebuildingwherehe
would practice
his speeches
before going
to theTemple
of Heaven
to participate
in thesacrificialrites.
TheHall
of Preserving Harmony,
wherethe
Emperors heldbanquets,
andgreeteddelegates,
followed.
I believedtheguidementionedthatthisbuildingalsoserved
as thecenterwheretheimperialexaminationstookplace.

﻿

﻿

﻿

﻿

This area was the area for the family and workers in the City.

﻿

Thenextgate to greet
us wasthegate to theinnerpalace.
Thiswastheareawheretheemperor,
his children, wivesandconcubineslived.
Itwas
a significantcomplex
with manybuilding
on eachside
of themainstructures.
One of thefirstbuildingswaswheretheEmperor
would sleepthenextwaswherehekept
his seals.
Thesewerevaluableitems,
andthushad
to be protecteddeep
within thecity.
Finally,
thelastmainstructurewastheEmperor's
"Weddinghall."
TheEmperorusedtheseroomsfor his
weddingnuptials.
Themanysmallerbuildingslocated
on theleftandright,
werewheretheEmperor,
family,
andstaffcarried
out their day
to dayactivities.

﻿

The Emperor's Garden accommodation.Photo by: Greg Tsontakis-Mally

﻿

Once
through theinnercourtbuildingcomplexentered
a peacefulgarden
with largeriverstones,
flowers,
andoldtrees,
beautifullyplaced
to impartcalmness.
Manytreeswere two
and three
hundred yearsold. After
wandering
about thisbeautifulgarden,
we
exited through thebackandfinalgatecalledthe
"Gate
of Devine Might."
andtraversedthemoatandfound our group on a majorthoroughfare.

﻿

The Moat was considered the first line of defense.Photo by: Greg Tsontakis-Mally

﻿

Wewalked
along themoat
until wearrived
at our restaurant;
a uniquebuilding.
Alargetreegrewrightup
through thecenter
of therestaurant.
Weclimbed
three flights
of stairs to our private
dining room,
satdownandordered
a beer.

After a great lunch amongst the trees, we descended and
exited the restaurant to find our bus waiting just outside to take us to
Beijing 798 Art District. This area was set aside by the government for the use
of the regions contemporary artists. It is a conglomeration of old factories that
fabricated electronics. The area has been divided up into small art galleries and
studios where wandering art lovers can find unique creations and if one is lucky they
will get to meet the artist who is being featured.

﻿

One of the many Public Art Installations in the 798 Art DistrictPhoto by: Greg Tsontakis-Mally

﻿All in all, there is more to do in this area other that visit the galleries.
One can wander the streets and see public art on display.

Some of the galleries gave us a chance to view the latest design objects. Every corner offered something new to tantalize our need see art. When we tired we just sat down at the nearest cafe. Yes, there are these small out door rest areas where we could sit and regain our strength over a great cup of Joe.

Anna and Wendy take a break at one of the local cafesPhoto by: Greg Tsontakis-Mally

We finished our visit with a group photograph. The sun was getting lower in the sky so we hiked back to the 798 entrance and there, waiting for us was, our bus﻿﻿

Our group. Photo courtesy of: Greg Tsontakis-Mally

﻿﻿

Sadly, we could not find a duck restaurant with space available due to the National holiday crowd but Lili found a take out Duck restaurant and she served us duck along with our hotel meal.

After the supper, I walked about the hotel looking for a SIMM, to use in my IPAD. It was difficult to find what I wanted. I am sure it was due to "lost in translation," but once I found a shops with wifi I used the translator, that came with the IPAD. It worked wonders for understanding. All I had to do was to speak to the IPAD, and it translated it to Mandarin. We are almost there. Nevertheless, I still could not find a SIMM. This task would be a quest, throughout my journey. More on computers and communication later in this blog.

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About Me

Terrance Frank Lazaroff obtained a degree in fine arts with honours in ceramics in 1988 from the University of Manitoba, Manitoba, Canada. He set up his studio practice in Montreal area. He is a member of the Quebec Craft Council and a member of the Quebec Artist Association of Quebec. His art works are in collections in China, The Middle East and Canada. Terrance has travelled throughout Canada, Europe, Middle East, the USA and China. The people he has met during his travels have all influenced his artistic approach.